▶ In overtime, Brad Keselowski wins the Coca-cola 600 early Monday morning.
Coca-cola 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway ends early Monday morning
Brad Keselowski has won the Southern 500, the Bristol night race, the Brickyard 400 and has now crossed the Coca-cola 600 off his checklist of crown jewel victories.
Chase Elliott lost two races in four days, both in heartbreaking fashion.
Jimmie Johnson had a shot at snapping his three-year losing streak but instead it was extended to 102 consecutive races when Keselowski beat him in overtime early Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Then his car failed inspection and his runner-up finish was thrown out by NASCAR.
All that action was over the final seven laps of the longest race in NASCAR history.
Elliott was cruising toward victory with two laps remaining in the 600 when a caution sent the race to overtime. The five additional laps — another 7.5 miles — pushed the longest event on the NASCAR calendar into a true Memorial Day finale.
Elliott was trying to win at Darlington Raceway last Wednesday night when he was wrecked by Kyle Busch in what turned out to be the final lap of racing in a rain-shortened event. He showed his displeasure by f lipping Busch the bird.
His Hendrick Motorsports team bounced back with a competitive Chevrolet in the 600 that Elliott drove to the front late in the race. Half a lap before he took the white flag that would have cemented his victory, teammate William Byron caused a caution that torpedoed the finish.
Elliott was the first car to head to pit road, where he got four tires. Keselowski was the first of eight cars to stay on track. Elliott couldn’t get through traffic fast enough in the two-lap overtime finish and was the third car across the finish line. He was bumped to second after teammate Johnson as bitter after the 600 as he was at Darlington.
“We were a lap and a half away from winning the Coca-cola 600,” a brusque Elliott said after the race. “Just try again. That’s all you can do. I mean, there is really no other option. I can’t rewind time. There’s no other choice.”
Penalties: NASCAR on Monday suspended three critical crew members for Denny Hamlin’s team because a piece of tungsten fell off his car on the pace lap before the Coca-cola 600. The tungsten is required to meet minimum weight requirements on the car and the NASCAR rule book states if it is separated at any point it is an automatic fourrace suspension for the crew chief, car chief and engineer. The piece of ballast added to the car weighs 35 pounds and costs $1,877 from the supplier. Chris Gabehart, the crew chief, was suspended along with car chief Brandon Griffeth and engineer Scott Simmons. Joe Gibbs Racing said it would not appeal the penalty and already had roster replacements for Wednesday night’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NASCAR’S next four races are at Charlotte, Bristol, Atlanta and Martinsville between Wednesday night and June 10, when the suspension ends. NASCAR is trying to squeeze in eight postponed Cup events from a 10-week suspension for the coronavirus pandemic.